This is a developing scandal folks...it threatens to bring down not just a bit player like Dan Rather, but all of network television. On the Jan 2, 2005 episode of 60 Minutes, internet search pundit John Battelle commented on Google employees not taking advantage of their newfound wealth because it's against Google's ethic:
If anybody got a Porsche or a Ferrari right now at Google, they’d probably be drummed out of the company
My sources deep inside Google (who shall, given recent legal jeopardy, remain anonymous) tell me that at least one employee has purchased a Porsche with the IPO monies and has not, repeat, has *not* been drummed, tubaed, celloed, or otherwise musically extricated from the company. If true, who knows what this could mean for the future of journalism as we know it!! The implications on podcasting alone are unfathomable at this time. More as it develops...
Update: Is this really Ben Affleck's Bentley in a Google parking space or is it some IPO bling? Who knows how deep what the press has dubbed "Googlegate" will go before we get to the truth?
Update #2: The car pictured in the photograph above may be a Rolls Royce instead of a Bentley. It's hard to sort through all the misinformation here...it's staggering.
Update #3: Confirmed: the car is a Rolls Royce, not a Bentley. But forget the car, I've heard rumors that both RR and Bentley are owned/manufactured by German car companies (VW and BMW). I'm working to track these rumors down, but if true, Germany's heavy investment in Google would be a bombshell.
Update #4: Matt, prominent media pirate, has video of the 60 Minutes episode in question. You can see their lies for yourself. No official denial as of yet from the German government on their outfitting of all Google employees with luxury motor coaches.
